Our People
Without the sacrifices and dedication shown by our loyal staff, Kenyon would not have been able to achieve what we have today. Over the years, many hardworking individuals have given us so much of their time and effort. Here, we attempt to highlight the actions of a few of our long serving staff, and express our gratitude.
SX Cai, Deputy Managing Director
We were given a very short time frame for our first British American Tobacco (BAT) project – only 1.5 months. The schedule was very tight, and tension was running high. Everyone worked really long and hard hours in order to try to get the project completed on time. Cai, as the project manager on the project, did not dare to leave the site unsupervised for too long. He took to sleeping on the site 3 days a week just to ensure that everything was running smoothly and on schedule.
On another occasion, Cai was involved in a project in Nanjing, when he received a call that his mother had passed away in Ninbo (about a four-hour drive from Nanjing). Even though he was shocked and distraught, he continued to work on the design and coordinated all the site work for another 9 hours before he finally told our client that he had to take leave of the project for a few days.
Leon Ooi, Director
In the early days, our then accountant (now CFO) remembers walking into the dark office early one morning to find herself nearly stepping on Leon Ooi, who was sleeping on the floor by the entrance. Back in the early days, we had a really small and cramped office. Consequently, the only bit of open space that Leon could find was near the entrance. As it turned out, Leon actually frequently spent his nights working in the office until he practically “collapsed on the floor.”
KH Chew, Director
Two months into an extremely tough project, an “ang moh” project consultant told our Managing Director one day that he was very impressed by one “extraordinary guy of ours". He told said, "This guy is capable of doing three men’s jobs simultaneously". It turned out that the man in question was KH Chew, our director in charge of the electrical department. He recognized that the project was very demanding, and that the schedule was very, very tight, and so decided that it was more worth his time to skip the requisite long project meetings with clients and spend it in the field instead. While he sent his engineer to the meetings with the clients, KH himself worked in the field, immersing himself in the site for over 16 hours a day, where he undertook the roles of project director, engineer, and even supervisor, literally, three men rolled into one.
Man Jun, Engineer
Last May, one of our Chengdu engineers, Man Jun, was desperately trying to help our clients repair their concrete plant that had just been damaged by the Sichuan earthquake when he received a call from his father. The earthquake had also ravaged his hometown. Unfortunately, the call was dropped then, and Man Jun was unable to get further information. However, instead of electing to quickly rush home to find out if his family was ok, Man Jun decided to stay on to help restore the electrical supply in the damaged plant. He worked through the night.
It was early in the morning when he finally returned home – only to find out that his house was completely destroyed by the earthquake, his parents were badly injured, and his uncle was dead, still under a pile of rubble.
LM Yong, Engineer
We owe, in no small part, the success of our ETFE coated duct business to LM. When an employee who was previously in charge of development that business left after 1.5 years on the project, leaving behind no trace of the research documents, we literally had to start our plans from scratch. Despite being electrically trained, LM was instrumental in helping us with the development process, and within half a year, helped launch the world’s first automatic ETFE coating machine.
Nakkham Methee, Worker
Methee was working overnight on our aircraft arrestor project when he felt his stomach cramping up. Nonetheless, he continued to do his job, in between eight separate visits to the field toilet. Through it all, he did not voice out his discomforts, but resolutely continued to work.
In the morning when we could see him in the light, we found his face a ghastly pale. He was also unsteady on his feet. It was obvious that something was very, very wrong. We immediately rushed him to the doctor, whereupon the doctor sent for an ambulance to take him to the hospital. Only then, did we realize that he had internal hemorrhaging in his stomach and had almost bled to death. During his recovery, the managing director's wife cooked for him every day. After he had recovered, he came to the MD's office one day to thank him. Before the MD could stop him, Methee had prostrated on the floor to pray in thanks. Shocked, the MD quickly stopped him and helped him up, and almost prostrated on the floor himself to thank him instead.
Pinakase Sanan, Worker
Sanan worked on another of our aircraft arrestor projects. While working overnight, he developed a fever, but did not tell anyone. In the morning, when we realized that he was ill, we tried to get him to rest. He refused. It had started to rain hard, but still he stubbornly helped us to clear the runway in the rain.